Our Food Philosophy

We value and stand by our food philosophy. We don’t have a public restaurant because most of our food effort goes into our Weddings and Parties, where we use our own Venison and Beef whenever possible, supplemented by local produce, as detailed below.

To our residents and their guests, and to those staying on our Caravan site, we offer Farmhouse Suppers (home-made bar meals) in the evening. Guests can snuggle down in our cosy dining room, with a log fire burning six months of the year, and local real ale on tap.

Breakfasts are cooked to order on our AGA and served to your table the old fashioned way.

We use local food where we can. We grow our own rhubarb for the crumble.

We have our own chickens (except when occasionally the fox defeats us), so eggs are all free range, topped up by the farmer next door.

Pheasants are from the Donington shoot, on our land.

We don’t grow our own vegetables, because Melbourne has an abundance of growers, and is famous for its vegetable crops. What we can’t get locally is sourced by a local roundsman, who makes a daily visit to the market.

Pigs for the Hog Roasts all come from Derbyshire. We have often discussed having our own, but the available land is needed for forestry, and pigs and plantations do not mix!

Hard Cheese is mainly bought from local farms in the round, except the Stilton, which we collect from Webster’s of Saxelbye (near Melton Mowbray). Soft cheeses are not made locally, so we buy English or Welsh Brie, Camembert & Goats Cheese.

We also collect wine from Eglantine, our local vineyard, who make the Mead we use in banquets. Some of their wine is on the Hotel list, too. Bread comes from the family baker Smithard’s in Ashby de la Zouch.

So, we do try to support local suppliers. Of course, other goods are delivered by larger companies. But, where there is a choice, we plan to buy fresh and local.

Our produce

Venison

Our wild herd of deer is managed for us by David Stretton, who also holds regular courses in Deer stalking (for the history of this once Royal Deer Park, see The History of Park Farm and Our Green Ethos)

We supply just one local farm shop. All the rest of the venison is used on the menu, mainly at Weddings. Sausages are made for us by a local butcher, using only our own meat, but all the other venison is processed in our own facilities, and burgers are made at the Hotel. The smoked venison is also our own, and, like the sausage and haunches, can be bought from Hotel Reception.

Beef

Lodge Farm is tenanted by a local family, who have their own butchering facilities. Our cattle are fattened on the lush grass of the Trent river meadow. All the topsides of beef from the farm herd are used at our Hotel weddings. The rest of the beef is used to supply pies to local farm shops and Farmers Markets.